News

WSJ: Apple to sell music videos; iPod video in September?

By LC Angell ● Monday, July 18, 2005

Rumors of a video iPod have gained further credence thanks to a report in Monday’s Wall Street Journal [paid sub. req.] that says Apple has recently held discussions with major recording companies about licensing their music videos to sell through the iTunes Music Store.

“The negotiations are a possible prelude to a version of Apple’s hit iPod that would play video, a widely expected gadget that Apple has told some entertainment-industry executives that it could announce by September,” the paper says.

The Journal reports that Apple has approached Warner, EMI, Universal and Sony BMG to license music videos which could go on sale as early as September for $1.99 each. Apple is already bundling music videos with select albums on iTunes.

In addition to the four major music companies, Apple has also had talks with media companies about licensing television shows, “though securing rights to sell television shows over the Internet is highly complex and is likely to take longer than other forms of video,” the paper says.

Comments

1

this is awesome news, I can’t wait to see how Apple has approached the portable video/media device design.

Posted by per dolum on July 18, 2005 at 12:57 AM (CDT)

1

that’s great! i think we can assume iTunes 5 will go along with those, right?

Posted by johnnyb on July 18, 2005 at 1:10 AM (CDT)

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This is great news—I especially like the TV shows part. I don’t really care if the next iPod can play videos on the screen, but I would love to be able to hook it up to a television and be able to watch movies from the iPod’s hard drive.

Fishes,
narco

Posted by narco on July 18, 2005 at 1:19 AM (CDT)

1

Oh, but “it’s about the music, stupid”.. right? pff.. so many nay-sayers, where are you now?

Video iPod is innevitable.. too bad it’ll only play Apple’s beloved codecs.. but maybe someone will discover a hack.. :)

Posted by Kloan on July 18, 2005 at 1:22 AM (CDT)

1

i’m not a regular mac blogger like cringley or gruber, but i can’t resist given Kloan’s comment:

“...steve jobs has said time and time again: ‘it’s about the music, stupid.’ jobs has said, ‘who wants to watch a movie on a tiny screen?’ and he’s absolutely right. if i wanted portable movies to watch, i’d use my laptop. granted laptops are an order of magnitude more expensive than an ipod, but i don’t want to squint for 2 hours at a 2-inch screen, not to mention it’s small enough that only one person can watch at a time.

“but steve jobs has never said ‘people don’t want to watch digital video.’ and therein lies the key. people DO want to watch digital video, and there’s plenty out there that doesn’t take 2 hours to watch. first and foremost there’s imovie, [and of course]—music videos! music videos are still about the music, stupid. this of course provides another revenue stream for apple and adds an entirely new revenue stream to the ‘ailing’ record companies who before now have had no outlet except mtv to showcase music videos. and we all know what’s happened to the “m” in mtv. and no, vh1 doesn’t count.”

1

This is all fine as long as they continue to improve in the music/radio/podcasting department. I hope 5.0 also brings liner notes, higher bit rate and an option for a subscription service.

Posted by noty on July 18, 2005 at 3:26 AM (CDT)

1

If Apple does make a ipod video I believe it should be categorized as a whole new division for Apple. I dont even think that the “ipod video” should even be called an “ipod” because it will most definately be a completely new design from the previous ipod (say bigger screen maybe) and also because some ipod consumers just dont want a portable video player. But who know. Apple could design something like the Playstation Portable. I do believe though that Apple should make video purchase as easy as possible which probably interpretes to the ability to purchase videos via itunes.

Posted by whoatemyIpod on July 18, 2005 at 3:38 AM (CDT)

1

I would not be very suprised if the upcoming color-display Ipods will get a new firmware at the end of the year to get the video-playback functionality…
that would make sense that all the new ipods will be shipped with color displays… Plus: it will make the older customers feel like they have bought the right product… Better than thinking “damn i bought my ipod 2 months too early”...
Well, we will see…

Posted by Jörg Lünsmann on July 18, 2005 at 3:56 AM (CDT)

1

Great! MTV on my iPod!! I can’t wait!!

Posted by elppadopi on July 18, 2005 at 5:41 AM (CDT)

1

I guess one could safely assume that Apple would need to have something larger than a 60GB hard drive for a new “video iPod”...I wonder how this will change the current iPod’s form factor…

Posted by Lisa on July 18, 2005 at 8:17 AM (CDT)

1

They’re not going to release an all-out video ipod.

They’re attacking video for their Airport Express line of products. You can already hook it up to your stereo and have streaming audio. How hard would it be to put in some video connections and bam, steaming video to anywhere in the house.

Posted by schiano on July 18, 2005 at 8:52 AM (CDT)

1

in terms of HD size, i’m not convinced they would need to go tooo much bigger, ESPECIALLY if they are encoding this video just for 2-10” screen playback… you can crush the hell out of video and as long as you’re playing it back small enough, it’ll still look ok.

Now, if they DO encode just for playback on a 2-10” screen, plenty of people will be ticked off that they paid good money for the media…

Posted by Puck on July 18, 2005 at 8:55 AM (CDT)

1

the hackers and modders are gonna eat this up , look what they did with the psp.

Posted by photonicspartan on July 18, 2005 at 10:41 AM (CDT)

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To Puck: agree, but it’s well known that Toshiba has an 80GB 1.8” HD available, so if it’s not for Apple/iPod, then who? I’ve heard nothing about any other competitor coming out w/an 80GB 1.8” HD MP3 player.

Posted by Lisa on July 18, 2005 at 10:56 AM (CDT)

1

why would you want to BUY music videos?

Posted by lauren on July 18, 2005 at 10:56 AM (CDT)

1

good question Laura…I’m not a fan of the the all-in-one MP3 player/video player/cell phone/PDA approach at all…If this “new version” of the iPod is for video only, I guess that’s one thing, but I’ll be sticking w/my 60GB iPod photo and will hope for Apple to release a larger HD iPod sometime soon, but I won’t hold my breath.

Posted by Lisa ("Parrothead Phan" on iPodlounge) on July 18, 2005 at 11:13 AM (CDT)

1

Q: Why would you want to BUY music videos?? A: Show off factor, the same reason ppl are still flaunting and wearing the same white headphones despite the danger of theft and murder for your ipod.

Posted by tetherah on July 18, 2005 at 11:34 AM (CDT)

1

Why would anyone want to buy Music Videos? Well, I would Lauren. Growing with MTV, (back when they actually played videos) I associate many of the videos with the music. Many times, the first time I heard a new song was when watching the video of it. I would love to buy many of these videos from that time period, and be able to watch them on my iPod. Nobody is making you do this, if you don’t want to. Please do not dismiss an idea that many iPod users want, based on your opinion of it’s value.

Posted by Niles on July 18, 2005 at 12:10 PM (CDT)

1

schiano:
“They’re attacking video for their Airport Express line of products. You can already hook it up to your stereo and have streaming audio. How hard would it be to put in some video connections and bam, streaming video to anywhere in the house.”

right on. that makes more sense than a video ipod. although there seems to be a strange “need” by fans for a video ipod… so i wouldn’t be surprised if one is released around the same time as the rumored airport express video.

there is obviously a demand for downloading movies and tv shows… just look at all the torrent sites.

i don’t have cable… but i would pay a couple bucks to watch certain tv shows. i don’t know why it’s taken tv people so long to figure that out. they must be slower than music execs…

Posted by Travis on July 18, 2005 at 12:36 PM (CDT)

1

oh and i agree with niles… i grew up watching mtv. there are certain songs that i only associate with their video… .and only like because of their video. if i could easily buy and download videos i would be happy.

there is really not any great archive of music videos online… most music videos online are just whatever is being currently promoted.

i’d love to have all the great 80s videos at my finger tips.

would i need this on an ipod? probably not. but it would be nice to have on my computer at home.